Influencer marketing is simply a digital marketing technique where you get others to share your story, generate interest, and make your case. The perspective of standing in the shoes of a consumer.Generally it is a way of influencing consumers using like-minded voices, peers and people in their situations. A million dollar industry, influencer Marketing allows paid ‘collaborations’ with social media celebrities and content creators to subtly market products. As a result ‘Influencers’ have wide audiences on digital platforms like YouTube, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Infotainment
Generally, this art widely it combines infotainment, opinion relays, stories about products and services to create opportunity for lead conversion and marketing. This is subtle and widely appreciated by ‘fans’ hence they are key leaders to drive a brand’s message to the larger market. Most potential customers nowadays are interested in information before making purchases hence why tech vlogs on YouTube are sponsored by tech related companies. They’re part of a community together, and that network is built on trust.
Trustworthy and credible
For the most part influencers take a long time to build rapport with their audiences and that gives them trust and credibility. They persuade others by virtue of their trustworthiness and authenticity. Influencers can come in many different forms such as: bloggers, customers, members of a purchasing group, industry experts and analysts, business partners, internal team members or experts. Though to truly get the best out of influencers you need, GREAT CONTENT, as a rule it doesn’t matter how raw the content is. It matters how successfully it is accepted by the audience and how successful it can be for your audience.
Electronic Word of Mouth
Electronic-Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) has greater effects on consumer decision-making compared to traditional advertising, it is proven. Influencers play a growing and important role in word-of-mouth marketing. More marketers are engaging them for campaigns since it can be targeted to very specific audiences to capture high-quality leads and engagement. In short partnering with an influencer can be a cost effective and highly measurable form of high-quality content with built in distribution.
Why You Should Consider working with an influencer
So what are reasons to consider working with influencers in a summarized form?
- The personal touch: Their words are authentic, typed and posted by them soon after actually using the products or services.
- Thus people trust them: People follow them for honest and real reviews of products, and genuinely trust the influencer’s opinion.
- No hidden agendas: No bureaucracy. They don’t deal with an editor or “red tape.” They write what they want, when they want. No politics, no bosses means that no one else is controlling content.
- Besides more target marketing made easier. You focus on your target group easily.
- Cost Effective compared to a commercial slot on TV. No production costs
In the end influencer marketing still has to be effective and relevant. Otherwise effective Influencer marketing can be key for your business if chosen as a strategy. So how can your company achieve this?
Choosing the right platform
There too many digital platforms out there now. Before focusing on the ones where your target market is, is key. The first thing you need to do is furthermore understand your target group, delivery platforms and the social media behavior of your target group. For example Twitter Frequenters are known as complainers, Facebook is more family friendly, and blogs are for avid readers, while YouTubers are infotainment freaks or geeks. This will play a role in choosing the right influencer.
Give away Goodies, Gift Cards or Coupons:
Everyone loves freebies. Most internet Influencers have a cult like following who following with particular interests/niche, be it cooking, tech or fashion. This creates an opportunity for you to target your potential clients all in one place as brand ambassadors. So give the Influencer a few promo codes, discount coupons and gift cards which they can gift their fans. This has proven to be highly effective for tech products and services on YouTube.
Allow Exclusive online Product Launches
How resonant is your content, and how often is it shared with others? As a result influencers are right now the fastest distributors of content on social media now. If you’re launching a new product, allow your chosen influencer an exclusive chance to review the product or service. If you’re short on budget, some influencers are flexible and simply require free samples or unlimited access to the service as incentive and payment later for referrals or leads. Also influencer rates can lowered if he’s is gifted a product. Also Influencers can help make your product more memorable with their own original content creation.
Creating Product Awareness
How many people viewed, downloaded, or listened to this piece of content because of the influencer? Yes, people don’t buy products, they buy people! For example, tech influencers have the utmost trust of their followers because of their honest and authentic opinions. You can use this to your advantage by designing influencer campaigns to have tutorials, extra resources Trivia and product awareness posts or videos delivered by the influencer. This will help market the experience and ‘feeling’ of your product, smart influencers will help you grow your social media following and site traffic.
Consider Sponsoring Youtube Channels
4 Billion hours of video content is watched on a daily on the world’s second largest search engine, YouTube! And majority of this is watched by people under 25years. Research has actively validated the effects of influencer marketing on certain demographics like millennials. So why not sponsor a thriving YouTube Channel in your niche! Since YouTube is the new TV, chances are that if you sponsor a ‘cooking’ channel, you can easily convert leads from mothers and wives.